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Early EEE Detection in State Points to Need for Vigilance this Summer

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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PLYMOUTH, Mass. — For nearly four months, Gov. Charlie Baker has addressed the media almost daily about a disease first discovered last year.
 
On Tuesday, he switched gears to remind residents of a more familiar deadly threat: eastern equine encephalitis.
 
"I know I speak for the lieutenant governor and myself when I say how much we appreciate the opportunity to speak about something other than COVID," Baker joked during an appearance at the headquarters of the Plymouth County Mosquito Control Project.
 
But things turned serious as Baker and other other officials talked about EEE, a mosquito-borne illness that infected 12 Bay State residents and killed six in 2019.
 
"We really can't speculate about what [2020] will look like," Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel said. "What we can do is look back at the patterns we have seen in the past. What we've seen from previous years is that triple-E tends to be in two- to three-year cycles.
 
"That's why at the end of last season we began right away planning for this season, assuming we might see triple-E in high numbers again."
 
The early data is concerning. The commonwealth found its earliest instance of EEE in a mosquito in 20 years when it was detected in Franklin County on July 1, Bharel said.
 
That discovery and another in the Western Mass county came from one of the surveillance and trapping sites the commonwealth added this year in response to last year's outbreak.
 
Increased surveillance is just one part of a state response that included "larvacide applications … targeting almost 20,000 acres in 110 member communities in 10 counties from the Berkshires to Cape Cod," Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said.
 
Soon, Bay Staters will start seeing another part of that response, a stepped up public awareness campaign that includes a new website rolled out on Tuesday.
 
And, just like the commonwealth has been pushing personal responsibility (social distancing, hand-washing, face coverings) to slow the spread of COVID-19, the campaign against EEE includes promoting measures that individuals can take to protect themselves.
 
"We do think it's important people should be outside," Baker said. "We've been saying people should be outside since March. The sun is a very important part of … happiness and positivity for people. I love the fact that the parks have been full for a long time now.
 
"But once again, our key message is we will do the things we can do as government entities, working with our colleagues in the private sector to limit the exposure and the outbreak associated with EEE. … But there are a lot of things people can do as individuals, and if we're all smart about this, we can limit the impact."
 
Theoharides echoed that sentiment.
 
"There is not, unfortunately, a [EEE] treatment or vaccine for humans," she said. "Triple-E, as the governor said, is a very serious disease that can impact people of all ages in every region across Massachusetts.
 
"It's important that we all remain personally vigilant against the risk of the mosquito-borne illness. Spraying for mosquitoes does not eliminate the risk of triple-E transmission, and we ask the public to follow personal protective practices."

Tags: EEE,   mosquito,   public health,   

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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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